Kurdistan Workers' Party

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is a left-wing and Kurdish nationalist militant group that operates in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan, seeking to create an independent state of Kurdistan embracing socialism, communalism, and feminism. It was founded in 1978 and based out of the Qandil Mountains, and it has waged guerrilla warfare against the government of Turkey using tactics such as ambushes and terrorist attacks. In 1999, imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan abandoned Marxism-Leninism for Democratic Confederalism and libertarian socialism, ceasing the group's calls for an independent country as well. In 2013, it had a brief ceasefire with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, but in July 2015 it rebelled against the government after the government reneged on the peace. Turkey bombed their positions in northern Iraq, northern Syria, and in parts of Turkey, and the PKK resumed its terrorist attacks and ambushes against the government.